Directions
The trail starts out on the lake front in Riva del Garda, in front of the Garda Trentino tourist information office. Take the cycle path which leads along Viale della Liberazione towards the centre of Riva. Pass the imposing structure of the Rocca and Piazza III Novembre, coming to the main road Gardesana Occidentale at the harbour. From here, follow the main road to the south for a few hundred metres. Before you reach the first tunnel on the Gardesana, keep to the right and take a steep cobbled ramp which leads to the start of the famous Ponale Trail. This stretch of the route, on a dirt road, has an incomparable panorama.
Without any alternative trail suitable for a bike we come to the end of the dirt road at the Ponale Alto Belvedere snack bar. At the nearby junction, keep right in the direction of Lake Ledro. Before the tunnel, turn left to cross the valley and the torrent avoiding the main road. Once on the road leading to Pregasina, go to the right and then, before the bridge, take the little road on your left. The trail to follow to get to Lake Ledro is clear. Cycle through Prè and Molina as far as the lake.
With the Pile Dwelling Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in view, we turn left to take Via al Lago and continue skirting the lake along Via Val Maria to Pur. At the crossroads we keep to the right, pass the beach and continue along Via Mal Maria. After about 1 km, at a hairpin bend, we take the cycle path on the right, which leads to the Pieve sailing club. From here we continue along Via Alzer and turn left at the first opportunity to rejoin the cycle path. This briefly rejoins Via Alzer and then turns left and runs alongside the stream for 1 km, after which it joins Via Imperiale near Pieve. We head left and follow the signs for the cycle path for about 6 km. The cycle path runs entirely on tarmac, alternating between exclusively bicycle and mixed stretches.
Just before reaching the Lago d'Ampola nature reserve, almost at the end of the cycle path, we take the dirt road on the left, a rather steep shortcut to the provincial road to Tremalzo. From here the route to Passo Tremalzo is clearly defined and runs entirely on a tarmac road for about 15 km. From the pass we continue along the old First World War military road towards Bocca di Val Marza, pass the tunnel and begin the descent towards Passo dei Gatùm, Passo Prà della Rosa and Passo Nota, characterised by the breathtaking curves that are among the highlights of this route. From Passo Nota the route becomes less steep and presents a slight up and down with beautiful views of Lake Garda, always on a dirt road. We thus pass Baita Segala and reach Passo Guil.
From here, the road curves to the right and continues towards Passo Rocchetta, soon becoming a path (or alternatively, we can turn left and follow route 733a. Variante Leano). Some passages here are rather exposed, but always on a rather wide and comfortable track. The last few metres of ascent, which take us to the beginning of Passo Rocchetta, are steep and rather technical. Once past the barrier, we find two routes that descend towards Malga Palaer. As indicated by the signs, we take the one on the left, the other one being reserved for pedestrians. This section is the most technical part of the route. When we reach the forest road, we keep to the right and, following this, we reach Malga Palaer. The signs for this route lead us to continue our descent along the forest road, reaching Bocca Larici. Here we find ourselves in the vicinity of one of the most beautiful viewpoints on Lake Garda: Punta Larici.
From the beginning, the route follows the forest road again downhill to the village of Pregasina. We cross the village and then continue downhill on the main road. On this stretch of downhill tarmac road, several of the bends are blind, the roadway is rather narrow and it is not uncommon to encounter a few cars in addition to pedestrians and bicycles. Shortly after passing the viewpoint with the large Regina Mundi statue, near the entrance to the tunnel for Valle di Ledro, we turn right and take the old road, now closed to traffic. This takes us directly back to the fork encountered at the beginning of our ascent at the Ponale zete. Retracing our route along the spectacular Ponale path, we return to Riva, our starting point.
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